“Listicles.” They are the bulleted lists that can be found on seemingly any Internet website. Critics claim this type of writing is the death of journalism, but they simply do not understand the contributions listicles have made to the world as we know it. Here are six things that did not exist before “listicles”.
1) To-the-point journalism
Long gone are the days where readers must have a practiced literacy to read and digest important news -- all thanks to the formatting of listicles. Audiences can now spend minimal amounts of time glancing over an article and still pick up the main points. They are perfectly designed for an on-the-go world. They also require no transitions between topics, lifting an immense burden off the shoulders of our world's writers.
2) Journalism in any sense
It should be noted that all forms of reporting, before listicles that is, were horribly erroneous. Forecasts that predicted sunny weather were typically followed by hurricanes or snowstorms. Television news frequently misled its viewers by reporting national tragedies that never even took place. Political elections were nearly impossible to follow. Thankfully, listicles are helping set the score straight by reporting just the facts, in easily consumable list format, and nothing more.
3) Opinions
Before listicles, every single human was nothing more than a witless cog in a one-world body. There were no wars -- but perhaps even worse -- no virtues, values, or ideas worth fighting for. When the first overtly biased and opinionated list articles were released, the concept was alarming and unfamiliar to readers. However, as listicles gained popularity, the idea of individuals forming unique outlooks on life took off and has since gathered more steam.
4) Tier ranking systems
Back before listicles, all things were deemed equally good and equally bad. No human had personal favorite foods because all sustenance was alike. Any competitions or sporting events that may have existed inevitably ended in ties. It wasn’t until an EliteDaily writer composed “The Top 31 Moments How I Met Your Mother Got Way Too Real” that there existed a way to organize similar topics in ascending (or descending) rank in comparison to one another. This concept quickly spread from the United States to western Europe, and eventually the rest of the planet.
5) Chairs
The concept of chairs seemed preposterous when they were first published in room-modeling list articles on Pinterest. The general custom if one had to remain in place for an extended period of time was to stand upright or sit on the ground. Now, chairs are everywhere. In fact, there is a good chance you are sitting in one right now. Thank you, listicles.
6) Chronological time
Before listicles, the notion that events would occur at a particular instance of time -- and only that particular instance of time -- was positively radical. It was generally accepted that all happenings occurred before, during, and after one another. People's lives began and ended simultaneously. The universe was both omnipresent and completely absent. Then, a writer for Buzzfeed tapped into something truly genius when she wrote “11 Things Sheltered 90s Kids Missed Out On While Growing Up”. Never before had time been referenced as something that had a beginning, middle, and end. The world audience was enraptured by the idea, and quickly adopted it as an accepted practice.
